Global food commodity prices climbed in July to their highest level in more than two years, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 130.1 points, a 1.6% increase from June and the strongest reading since February 2023, although it remains 18.8% below the record reached in March 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A surge in meat and vegetable oil costs outweighed easing prices for cereals, dairy and sugar. The FAO Meat Price Index hit an all-time high of 127.3 points, up 1.2% from June, driven by strong beef and sheep meat demand in China and the United States. The Vegetable Oil Index jumped 7.1% to 166.8 points, the highest in three years, as tighter supplies and solid global demand lifted palm, soy and sunflower oil quotations. By contrast, the agency’s cereal benchmark fell to its lowest in almost five years amid seasonal supply pressure from Northern Hemisphere wheat harvests, while rice, dairy and sugar indices also edged lower. FAO did not update its global cereal supply-and-demand outlook in the latest release.